Seattle artist Stokley Towles will develop and present a performance artwork that reflects local perceptions and behaviors around stormwater. Partnering with Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) and King County, Towles will also focus on SPU’s work managing drainage throughout Seattle. The performance project, to begin in early fall, will trace the history of Seattle’s sewer system and how it evolved to the system we have today.

The stormwater project is the third in a series of performance pieces Towels has created in partnership with SPU. Last year, he developed Trash Talk, a project on the social life of garbage. In 2009, Towles performed Waterlines as part of our Water Calling series, reflecting SPU’s management of the cycle of hydrology from drinking water through drainage. Watch a video of Waterlines.

Towles 40-minute educational and illuminating presentation will be free and open to the public. We will announce the performance schedule later this summer.

Towles has worked as a performance artist for more than 15 years, focusing his work on public places and institutions. He conducts interviews and gathers observations and historical facts about sites and the people that inhabit them and develops a performance with props, imagery and built pieces.

The stormwater project is intended to raise public awareness of environmental stewardship, especially as it connects to SPU’s work. The performance is commissioned by the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs with SPU 1% for Art funds administered in partnership with 4Culture.

Image: Stokley Towles, Waterlines, 2009. Photo by Mary Ann Peters.